Royal Anguish

any fans here?

which releases are Christian?

Oh yeah, I know all the demos and stuff up to Mysterion ( can't remember the exact name at this time) are Christian.

Shocking the Priest demo is one of the most brutal DM albums ever in my opinion

Thanks mothy.  I'll check them out.

According to the Metal Archives, it looks like most of the members went off to join especially un/anti-Christian bands...  :/  I have their Christmas song "Mary Did You Know" on a couple compilations.  They did a good job on that song, even if it may be lyrically the single most inane Christmas song in existence (excluding secular Santa Claus, Rudolph, etc. songs).

Kerrick wrote:According to the Metal Archives, it looks like most of the members went off to join especially un/anti-Christian bands...  :/  

I wish I could say I was surprised.  It's happened in my own band.

mothy wrote:Shocking the Priest demo is one of the most brutal DM albums ever in my opinion

Yeah, this is great stuff!

Temple of Blood wrote:

Kerrick wrote:According to the Metal Archives, it looks like most of the members went off to join especially un/anti-Christian bands...  :/  

I wish I could say I was surprised.  It's happened in my own band.

I'm really sorry to hear that; it's a terrible thing to see - especially when it's someone close to you.  I'd be curious to know if there's a higher-than-average rate of apostasy within the metal scene.  Sometimes it sure feels like it, which I suppose shouldn't be a surprise either due to the levels of anti-Christianity seeped in the scene (be it overt or not).  All the more reason for any of us involved in the scene to be that salt and light we're called to!

Kerrick wrote:According to the Metal Archives, it looks like most of the members went off to join especially un/anti-Christian bands... 

 Interestingly those who played on the albums did not. It seemed many who came and went through their history may have done other things but the members for the three full-lengths and the Ep were largely part of Royal Anguish only. If they did something else its been temporary and/or innocuous.

Oh right on; that's encouraging to hear.  [Obviously] I didn't look too hard at their MA page.  Thanks for the correction!

I remember getting Shocked to Pieces as a kind of teaser for Shocking the Priest, and then later acquiring their earlier material, Scream Bloody Murder and Rest in Pieces.  Very heavy stuff.  I listened to Shocking the Priest quite a bit in college, along with Pale Horse's Mournful tape.

stevegarveyfan wrote:I remember getting Shocked to Pieces as a kind of teaser for Shocking the Priest, and then later acquiring their earlier material, Scream Bloody Murder and Rest in Pieces.  Very heavy stuff.  I listened to Shocking the Priest quite a bit in college, along with Pale Horse's Mournful tape.

I figured you would know them.  You have every Christian metal demo there was, right?

Kind of interesting band. I came across a "Shocking the Priest" demo tape loooooong ago and didn't care for it at all, so ignored them for a long time. 

I was surprised when I got the old "Tools of the Trade" comp cd that had their "Rest in Pieces" ep on there, it was really good, super aggressive and I still really like those tracks.

I think Chronicles of Autumn Sorrow was next? It gets confusing since these early ones are generally re-issues, but I thought it was good also, worth a listen at least.

This will probably be minority opinion, but my favorite of there's is Mysterion, which was much less aggressive, slower, more goth-y and atmospheric, but I thought it was awesome.

Tales of Sullen Eyes ep was next, which kind of combined the goth-y feel with more of the modern death metal feel, didn't super grab me but wasn't bad.

And finally Journey through the Shadows of Time was even more aggressive, and I always thought was "good," but somehow never wanted to listen to, one standout track aside. I'm not sure what it was, all the playing was good. There was also an, in my one person's opinion, super cheesy story woven through the last half with spoken narration from a kindly sounding old man, but to me it all came off like a failed attempt at the grandpa from Princess Bride movie and kind of juvenile/silly. 

And, as the Mary Did you Know? was mentioned -- oh yeah -- awesome, that's probably my favorite Christmas-y track ever. . . ok, maybe 2nd behind Immortal Souls "Christ Mass." But absolute killer, IMO.

I don't know about any Christian/no longer Christian anything, exactly. I guess their early stuff was pretty explicit and probably the later stuff wasn't, but if I say anything more it's probably going to be inaccurate somewhere, so there's just one man's thoughts on most of their catalog, take whatever you will. I do remember beating Dr Anguish in the championship of a fantasy football league from the old bcmmb that only a few even on here will remember, so I'll always have that! He's made better music though, no contest.

Temple of Blood wrote:

stevegarveyfan wrote:I remember getting Shocked to Pieces as a kind of teaser for Shocking the Priest, and then later acquiring their earlier material, Scream Bloody Murder and Rest in Pieces.  Very heavy stuff.  I listened to Shocking the Priest quite a bit in college, along with Pale Horse's Mournful tape.

I figured you would know them.  You have every Christian metal demo there was, right?

Not exactly.  Quite a few, but if we were to somehow have a list of every Christian metal demo and then compare my collection to it, I would fall woefully short.  I'm OK with that.  But there are still a few that have eluded me for thirty years now.  Wish I could land those.